Commander intro

Your commander can be configured with a variety of modules to suit your play-style.

After the update, modules are added only at the game and are all unlocked, and you do not need to level up to get any modules.

To keep the game balanced commander modules cost metal ingame and are not all applied at the start of the game. Commanders start at level 1 with a free peashooter and no modules but they can morph an unlimited number of times (but you'll eventually run out of modules after which it is pointless to morph). At Morph 1 (Level 2), commanders gain a single weapon. At morph 3 commanders gain a second weapon which can either be a second regular weapon or a special weapon. If a weapon slot is left empty the commander will be given a free peashooter in its place. Some weapons will replace any other weapons (e.g I get shock rifle, it will replace the first weapon I got)

Each morph level gives a commander more health, more modules or weapons. Morphs have a base cost and additional cost based on the value of the modules or weapons that it will gain when the morph is complete. You can pre-configure your commander buildouts only through level 6 but you can upgrade any number of times in-game.

Unlike regular units, your commander is not disabled while morphing.

Modules and weapons

Number of slots per level

Commanders start at level 1. The number of modules and weapons increases with levels.

Commander level

1

2

3

4

5

+

Base cost

-

25

100

600

200

+100

Base time

-

2

6

30

8

++

Total Weapon slots

0

1

1

2

2

+0

Total Module slots

0

1

3

5

8

+3

Equipping weapons and modules costs additional metal. Morph time is partly dependant on the metal cost.

Module types

Modules have cyan names in the unlock list, although their icon color depends on their nature. They fall into four categories.

Stackable

These modules are able to be stacked up to 8 times. Stacking them repeatedly will create a powerful commander, even though their bonuses as quite minor. These are cyan.
This type of module is the one that should be used the most, and because of their versatility, it is useful if you intend on getting commanders which do many things, or a single buff commander that is fast, invisible and deals lots of damage. Some of these modules will subtract speed or HP, and should be used with caution as too much will leave the commander a sitting duck.

Name

Description

Cost

Strike

Guardian

Recon

Engineer

Advanced targeting system

+7.5% range for all weapons. -2.5% speed.

150

✔

✔

✔

✔

Damage booster

+10% damage for all weapons. -2.5% speed.

150

✔

✔

✔

✔

High density plating

+1600 HP,-10% speed. Requires Ablative armor plates.

400

✔

✔

✔

✔

Ablative armor plates

+600 HP

150

✔

✔

✔

✔

Companion drone

+1 Weak attack drone

300

✘

✘

✘

✔

Battle drone

+1 Drone with slowing laser, requires Companion drone.

500

✘

✘

✘

✔

Carrepairer's nanolathe

+4 Buildpower

150

✔

✔

✔

✔

High power servos

+8% speed

150

✔

✔

✔

✔

Autorepair system

+10 HP/sec, -100 HP

150

✔

✔

✔

✔

Support

Support modules are not stackable. They can provide large expensive bonuses such as a shield, cloaking, jamming or a cloaking field. These are cyan as well.

Weapon Boosters

These modules are expensive but give a large bonus to a few specific weapons but can only be applied once. They require a level 2 commander. They are a space effective way to spend a module slot but make sure you have the weapon that they affect. They are purple.

Name

Description

Cost

Weapon

Strike

Guardian

Recon

Engineer

Disruptor ammo

Add slow damage. Reduced direct damage.

300

Shotgun Machine gun Light/Heavy particle beam

✔

✘

✔

✔

Flux amplifier

Improves stun duration and EMP damage.

300

Lightning rifle Multi stunner

✔

✘

✔

✔

Napalm warhead

Set targets on fire. Reduced direct damage.

350

Riot cannon Rocket launcher

✘

✔

✘

✘

Weapon types

There are 2 types of weapon, special and normal. Both weapon types are affected by the stackable range and damage modules. Weapon names are in red.

Normal

These are auto-targetting normal weapons that behave the same was as any other unit. They can be affected by weapon boosters and weapon converters given that it is the right weapon. They are all affected by stackable modules. They are red.

Name

Range

Reload time

Damage

DPS

Strike

Guardian

Recon

Engineer

Notes

Beam Laser

330

150

✔

✔

✔

✔

Constant beam

Flame thrower

270

0.17

11

66

✘

✔

✔

✘

Sets units on fire for 15s(15 DPS)Pierces unitsDoes more damage against larger units

Heatray

300

0.1

0 - 45

0 - 450

✘

✔

✘

✘

Damage falls off linearly with range

Heavy particle beam

390

3.1

800

258

✘

✘

✘

✔

Replaces all other weaponsMounted on second weapon slot

Light particle beam

310

0.33

55

165

✔

✘

✔

✔

Lightning Rifle

300

1.83

220+550

120+300

✔

✘

✔

✔

EMP duration: 1s

Machine Gun

285

0.17

30

180

✔

✔

✔

✘

Missile launcher

415

1

80

80

✔

✘

✘

✔

Homing

Pea Shooter

300

0.1

12

120

✔

✔

✔

✔

Default weapon

Riot cannon

275

2

220

110

✘

✔

✘

✘

AoE

Rocket launcher

430

3

360

120

✘

✔

✘

✘

Not homing

Shock Rifle

600

12

1512

125

✘

✘

✘

✔

Replaces all other weaponsMounted on second weapon slot

Shotgun

290

2

32x12 (384)

192

✔

✘

✔

✔

Special

Special weapons have a long reload time and must be manually aimed with the 'D' key. They are only affected by stackable modules. They are orange and can only be put on the level 4 weapon slot.

Name

Range

Reload time

Damage

DPS

Strike

Guardian

Recon

Engineer

Special Notes

Cluster bomb

360

30

300x8 (2400)

80

✘

✔

✔

✘

Bomblets spread (like a shotgun)

Concussion shell

450

25

750

30

✘

✘

✔

✘

Has Impulse (Tosses some units)

Disintegrator

200

30

1400

46.67

✔

✔

✘

✘

Damage varies on unit size

Disruptor bomb

450

25

350+2100

14+84

✔

✘

✔

✔

Has large AOE (512)

Hellfire grenade

450

25

200

8

✘

✔

✔

✘

Sets an area on fire (45s,40dps+3s burning)

Multistunner

360

25

550/800 x 16 (8800/12800)

352/512

✔

✘

✔

✔

Affected by flux amplifier. Max EMP time: 8s [upgraded: 10s]

SLAM

700

30

1512

50.4

✘

✔

✘

✘

High vertical arc

Key: EMP Damage, Slow Damage

Commander Chassis

There are 4 types of commander chassis to choose for a battle.

You can configure custom commanders based on these chassis on your user page; you must be logged in to the Zero-K website and go to: https://zero-k.info/My/Commanders. These custom commanders may be selected at the beginning of the game in multiplayer matches. You will still need to upgrade them as usual, but the upgrade options are filled in to your preferences.

Common attributes

The commander you start the game with produces 4 metal and 6 energy per second, via a unique Vanguard economy module. Any resurrected commanders who have lost this module produce only 0.4 metal and 0.4 energy per second. They all provide a sight distance of 500 and a sonar of 500. All have a base regen of 5 hp/s. Chassis other than the Engineer Commander have 10 build power and 144 build range while the Engineer commander gains build power and range with levels and has base 220 build range.

Chassis list

Note that attributes on level 1 and level 2 are equal. Morphing to level 2 provides no bonus other than the weapon and module slot.

Exact effects of attribute modifiers

Percentage modifiers from commanders and stackable modules are additive, not cumulative. Five +10% speed modules multiply a commander's speed by 1.5 instead of by 1.1^5 = 1.61.

Percentage modifiers from weapon boosters and converters are cumulative and applied before other percentage modifiers. Think of them as changing the intrinsic stats of the weapon, rather than adding a bonus.